Pune woman in her early 40s loses ₹40 lakh to digital arrest fraud via WhatsApp coercion in May 2024
Summary
A Pune woman in her early 40s lost Rs 40 lakh to a "digital arrest" fraud after receiving a call claiming her ATM card was flagged in the Naresh Goyal money laundering case. The fraudsters, posing as officials from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the CBI, manipulated her into liquidating her investments and transferring the money to fraudulent accounts. The incident occurred in May 2024, and a First Information Report (FIR) was filed at the Sinhagad Road police station. The woman was coerced into sharing her financial details and kept in "digital custody" via WhatsApp for 24 hours. She eventually realized she had been scammed and reported the incident to the police, who have initiated an investigation. The fraudsters allegedly misused the name of a senior Mumbai police officer and referenced high-profile legal cases to intimidate the victim.
Incident Details
Sources
1This incident is documented by a single source. Source count reflects coverage in our monitored feeds, not the totality of reporting, and we do not evaluate publication quality.